Religion - Relevant Legislation

Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003

The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 make it unlawful to discriminate against a person because of their religion or belief in relation to work and vocational training.

The Equality Act 2006 - extended the legislation on religion or belief to include education and access to goods, facilities and services. (NB: There are some limited exemptions which apply to Faith Schools in relation to religious discrimination.)

The law describes a number of types of discrimination:

Direct

Indirect

Harassment and victimisation.

Under the law a religion or belief must be recognised as being cogent, serious, cohesive and compatible with human dignity.

Theconcept includes religions that are widely recognised in Britain such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism etc. A belief is defined as including philosophical beliefs, such as humanism, which are considered to be similar to a religion. Other categories of beliefs, such as support for a political party, are not protected.

Religious discrimination can occur when a person is treated less favourably because they do not possess the same religious or philosophical beliefs as someone else, or because they have no religious beliefs. It can also happen because of the religious or philosophical beliefs of someone a person is associated with (e.g. a parent or partner) or incorrect assumptions that a person has certain beliefs when in fact they do not.

For more information about the law on religion have a look at the EHRC website

Public Sector Duties

Currently, public bodies are only required to address three strands of equality – race, disability and gender (including gender reassignment) in carrying out their public functions as both employers and service providers. However, many organisations have widened the scope of their equality schemes to include all the equality strands (Race, disability, gender - including gender reassignment - age, sexual orientation and religion or belief).

The Government is proposing to widen the scope of the Public Sector Duties to include all the equality strands as part of the Equality Bill proposals which is likely to come into force in 2010/11.

Human Rights Act 1998

Under the Act schools are required to respect the right of parents to ensure that education and teaching is in line with the parents’ own religious, moral and philosophical beliefs.

Equality Bill

Current Religion or Belief legislation may be replaced in 2010 when the Government hopes to receive Royal Assent for the Equality Bill. The new law (which seeks to introduce a single Equality Act covering a range of equality areas) is likely to come into force from Autumn 2010. For more information see: